How to get members to return?

StripesAndFins

StripesAndFins

Madly Diligent
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I am trying to figure out how to get members to return my forum: Fiction Lovers. For many forums, the members just tend to stay, but for mine they come, make a few posts, and leave for good. How do i get them to come back.

My forum is http://fictionlovers.org Please do not tell me to change hosts as that won't be happening any time soon. I will be changing soon as I am sick of freeforums.org, but I am going to stay for a little longer.
 
You can try to send a mass email or offer great services and locate which forums a majority would join. Try and get them there. Or maybe they will come back one day and stay. Otherwise, I don't see much of a chance.
 
i have tried the mass email thing, and 1 person came back for a day without posting, then left 🙁

Any other ideas?
 
maybe try and make some better and more appealing changes to your forum and run some interesting contests and send a mass email out with that in it. (Sadly mass email is the only way to really get them back.)
 
I have the same problem Wolfy. I have over 10,000 members but the vast majority registered but never posted. A few joined, posted 500-2,000 and then just disappeared. I sent out a mass email a couple of times with exciting info and stuff and a few came and/or just logged in but it's really down to the member. If they left then they probably left for a reason and don't really wanna come back. Sometimes people get bored or a certain forum. They may be back in the future? Good luck.
 
skeithex said:
maybe try and make some better and more appealing changes to your forum and run some interesting contests and send a mass email out with that in it. (Sadly mass email is the only way to really get them back.)
Click to expand...

I have tried changes like with the banner and stuff like that. I am currently running a contest which says that whoever makes the most posts by the 25th can win a 15 dollar iTunes gift certificate or a free ebook. Also I just sent out a mass email last night.

And thanks Cloverfield 😀
 
What about tying some kind of online book club into your book of the month contest? Once a book of the month has been selected, ask members to read and discuss that book. Obviously not all of your members will participate, but those who do will have a reason to keep coming back to the forum. You might even contact some publishers and ask if they will sponsor a couple of review copies of a book for your book club.

Just an observation, but there are a few forums related to movies on your forum. If your board is primarily related to books, would one section dedicated to movies, not be enough?

Good luck with it!
 
but it is not primarily dedictated to books: it is dedicated to all fiction.

i will try to get an online book club going, that is good idea 😀
 
Nice idea there Fergal! 😉

Wolfy, if there was a definitive answer to this question we would have bottled it and made a fortune by now, unfortunately it's the one thing we all wish we could make happen on our forums, it's the reason many forums die (MadDogz included) I'm going through the same head scratcher as you, we can cry in a corner together 🙁
 
It's the way of the game, main reason why many administrators quit and what sets apart kids from serious community managers. If you really want your forum to do well, you will exhaust every possible option, contests, changes, polls, surveys, packages, reviews, advertising, word of mouth and many more. Try and use every possible campaign and service to get your name out there, show everyone your forum is not dead.

If members want to return, they will. If not, then they may have their reasons. Make sure your active members are being looked after and you are hearing their suggestions for improvement. I also find setting up a few dummy posting accounts with some spark of activity helps. It's a shame that your niche has a good number of boards already, you really need to target your audience, appeal to writers 🙂

Start a blog? Get some articles written, review books, post news etc.
 
If the members you have keep leaving on you then once a month mention the new services you are offering in your mass email, but also ask of your old members to visit and report feedback to you on how to improve the forum, etc. This way you can hear from your members how you can continually improve on you site/forum etc.

and remember not to send the mass email too often because members might dislike it if the mass email is sent too often. Try to send it every 1st and 15/16th of the month. (of course you can adjust the dates to your needs.)

Hope this helps,
Andy...
 
Thanks both of you 😀 I will take both of those suggestions into consideration 😀
 
Run competitions to keep your members regular engaged, that should help alot. I also use a credit system like here at forum promotion, that keeps my members returning.
 
I would just focus on a new generation of people. If they leave, then so be it, but trying to focus on them too much may affect newer members, being neglected.
 
Wolfy said:
I am trying to figure out how to get members to return my forum: Fiction Lovers. For many forums, the members just tend to stay, but for mine they come, make a few posts, and leave for good. How do i get them to come back.

My forum is http://fictionlovers.org Please do not tell me to change hosts as that won't be happening any time soon. I will be changing soon as I am sick of freeforums.org, but I am going to stay for a little longer.
Click to expand...

Wow you have a lot of forums, if I'm honest I was getting a bit cheesed off using my scroll wheel. I'm trying not to be too harsh here, bue do your really need all those categories ?, and then you throw video games in there as well.. it's a bit too much for me.

The other thing is ...yes lots of people love to read books...but they are not reading two or three a day, some may only read two or three a year, and if they are reading, they are not on forums talking about them....if you get my drift...it's a good idea..but I think you need to:
re-think the layout and content
a more bookish header
Prune/merge some forums or just delete them.

My forum is nearly 8 months old, I have less members than you, and I am still tweaking it, the most important forum is the feedback one, thats where you get to find out what the members want, like and dislike.

Hope this helps.
 
Great tips there sapper.

I agree with the point about scrolling down, it would help you to bring the content of actual interest to your users, closer to the top of the page. The first content forum you have is "Books in General" and look how far it is down the page. When someone first lands on your site, you only have a few seconds to capture their interest and if you don't they will skip to another site.

Another suggestions I'd make is to remove the "Moderator: Wolfy" line from below each of your forums. It makes your board look cluttered and it really doesn't add anything of value to your visitors and members.

I'd also do something with all of that blank / wasted space in the top right of your header. That's prime space and it is not doing anything for you at the moment.

Good luck with it.
 
Yes, Lisa's video's are great. Her direct video link I think is:
http://youtube.com/lisa3876

Here are 3 of her video that I think might best help you but don't forget to check out her other ones too:

[youtube]pUeHGloqEyI[/youtube]
[youtube]5MRoSX6_I8c[/youtube]
[youtube]IhLOs_BRTMw[/youtube]
 
She succeeds because people are promoting her sites and videos as shown above 😛

But, like above, it's the content that gets people returning, which is essential not only for people to return, but also googlebot etc.
 
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